Ron Paul weighs in on the "health care debate" (more like a pro-socialized medicine cheering) on Larry King Live, which aired on August 11, 2009. The two statist physicians, Dr. David Scheiner (Obama's former personal physician and a member and supporter of the Physicians for a National Health Program that "supports a national single payer health program") and Dr. Dean Ornish (the founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and a medical editor at The Huffington Post blog)) who are on the same panel with him support the government control of health but want to take it further. CNN's Wolf Blitzer sits in for King and "moderates" the absurd "debate."
Scheiner, who is FOR the U.S. conversion to a "single-payer health care" apparatus, goes into defense mode for his precious "one-size-does-not-fit-all" policy, saying the following:
DR. DAVID SCHEINER: Well, you know, the question is, right now there are 89 representatives in the House, in, uh, the House that support single-payer. Sixty percent of physicians support, uh, single-payer. My organization, there are 16,000 physicians who are fighting for single-payer. The question is I don't think the public has adequately been informed as to what single payer is. It has been so demonized. Medicare works! Now why is Medicare expensive? Because it takes care of old, sick people. If it were universal, the costs would be spread out. If the administrative costs were lower, they, they...we would be able to afford it. I don't know why people are so frightened. A national health insurance doesn't mean that we have socialized medicine. We have private doctors. Free choice! Patients do not have free choice today. They have to go to the doctor; their insurance company says. They have to go the hospital, the laboratory. The medication constantly changes, because they tell us it's not in their formula. I want the public to have freedom of choice single payer gives them.
This nonsense that Medicare "works" is like saying the U.S. Post Office "works." It is so inefficient and bureaucratic and saturated with globs of red tape that doctors, registered nurses (RNs), and other medical practitioners are forced to comply with that the costs of Medicare are going through the roof. Plus, Medicare underpays doctors, who either quit the profession because they can't pay for the costs of their overhead or they are forced to spread the costs to their other patients who aren't on Medicare. Yeah, Medicare is "working" all right.
His claim here is enough to break out into laughter: "Now why is Medicare expensive? Because it takes care of old, sick people." No, Dr. Scheiner, it's not the reason why Medicare is breaking the bank. It's cost prohibitive because the agency coerces physicians to charge the highest amount to their customers (just as the private insurers do, as mandated by federal rules and guidelines) and it's in the red because it spends more on tax revenues than it takes in. Plus, it incentivizes the elderly to use the program more than they would; thus, the service mandated by government is, through the forces of the government-created market, rationed, and the demand for Medicare by the seniors exceed the supplies available to provide for them. That's WHY it is so expensive.
Here's the entire clip for people to enjoy:
[Cross-posted at The Freeman Chronicles and the Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity website.]
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